[prog] Sample implementations of UNIX utilities.

[Aguido Horatio Davis]

On Mon, 30 Dec 2002, Sue Stones wrote:

> By looking really hard in the back of the box I have been able to find a few
> subjects that use other languages.  But only a few will do those subjects,
> and how long will they last???

All things run in cycles - if those subjects ever get killed off, they will
return. It just might take a few years.

My university's computing school has just finished the painful process of
translating all its core programming subjects into the One True Language,
Java (previously it was Haskell and then C, which had its own problems). So
now we've got a nice pipeline of three semesters' length which spits out
several hundred students a year who have never programmed with anything but
Java.

And then in their last three semesters they hit database systems (SQL),
massively parallel number crunching (Fortran), image processing (C, for some
reason), scripting work (Python), system administration (Perl), the Web
(PHP, etc), high-reliability work for various local defense contractors
(Ada) and what the multimedia faculty earnestly tell me are necessary
languages for _their_ subjects. Not to mention two semesters of project work
for an industry client, half of whom have legacy code in everything from C++
to COBOL. Not all at once, but there is no way to graduate without getting
pelted with a decent random sample of the above.

The bright students sigh, break out the relevant references, and teach
themselves the things that a diet of pure Java didn't. The not-so-bright
ones are causing the faculty much embarrassment and/or pain. The whole
strategy is undergoing a review Real Soon Now, or so I understand. (:

> Sometimes I wish that I had known the difference between CS and IT before I
> had started the course, but then again it migh have put me off and really
> there are no other options available to me.

One of the underlying problems seems to be the collapse of mathematics as a
discipline in the Australian public university system. My university
dismantled its school of maths years ago. So the other schools have had to
choose between dedicating faculty to filling that gap, or dedicating them to
teaching the meal-ticket skills the market apparently wants.

Ah, well. End rant.

Cheers,

Horatio